Hello everyone! This time I'm going to review Pro Evolution Soccer (heck when are they gonna call it football already) 2013,or commonly known as PES 2013.
Alright,first,I'll have you know that I'll review this game as a football game.Reviewing this game as a game in general wouldn't make sense,since if you are not a football fan,you'll probably not be interested at all.
So,first off,let's take a look at the graphics.
Graphics: 9/10 They are very good.The pitch looks nice,and the players' models are nicely done.The players' models look very close to their real life versions and the stadiums are made rather carefully so if you look at a stadium which you know in PES 13,you'll be surprised by how close it is to the real thing. The players' animation is smooth and truly enjoyable to watch.The fans that are in the stadium don't look as good as everything else,but that's the last thing you actually care about as you won't be noticing them while playing anyway.Overall,very good graphics,and when I say "very good",I mean it.
Sound/Soundtrack 9/10: For the soundtrack,this game has known songs by popular artists,and you can edit the playlist.And by "editing" I mean that you can take songs out of the list and put others in,even songs that you put to the hard drive by yourself.I've done this with many songs.That's a nice feature.Nothing new though.As for the sound...the sound effects are nice and close to reality and there are many different fan chants that you can hear in the background,depending on the home team(obviously)
Gameplay: 9/10 Here's the catch.In this one,the gameplay is actually slower than it is in previous PES titles.Don't get me wrong,it's not like you'll fall asleep.The gameplay has been made slightly slower to give you more control.And I have good news; It works great! At first,I was angry about this,because I had gotten used to PES 11's intense rythm,but then I found out that it's just fine-no,it's great! You have the usual controls; You control the player with the analog stick,you run with the R1(PS3) / RB(XBOX) button,you shoot with square(PS3) / X(XBOX) button,you pass with X(PS3) / A(XBOX) button,you make long passes with circle(PS3) / B(XBOX) button and through passes with triangle(PS3) / Y(XBOX) button.The main defensive moves are done with the same buttons. The right stick and the rest of the buttons (except for the directionals) are used for tricks and more advanced play.Tricks are now better than ever before. The directional buttons are used for chosing strategies. Defending is better than before,since you have more control on the way you tackle your opponent.I think it's the best PES gameplay so far.
Game Modes : 8/10 Well,there's plenty to do,but it's mostly the same thing we've been seeing for many years.You can play Exhibition matches or watch them,you can play in the licenced UEFA Champions League and Copa Libertadores,you can Edit or create players,teams and stadiums,like usual.And then you have the good but not new part; Football Life which contains the following :
Master League : Here you chose either a real team with the real players or a real team with "fake' players (original master league players) and Make transfers,handle the youth teams and the economics of the club,while playing full seasons.
Become A Legend : The game mode that was introduced back in PES 2009.You make a player and play as him while you transfer from one club to another and try to "Become A Legend" (Thumbs up for pun :D )
Master League Online : Speaks for itself really.
The above modes however,were made a bit more realistic this time,by adding a few nice little details like for example the coach talking to the players,or a dissatisfied player talking to the coach.Instead of ading little details however,it would be nice to see actual drastic changes that'll make the game actually better!
Teams/Squads/Kits etc 8/10 While every "important" team is there (many of those with different names like usual...) it still doesn't have as many as it could have.I mean,you would probably rarely play as a small team from a hardly ever known league,but why not have that in there? There's plenty of clubs missing from all over the world.If FIFA can have them,I don't see why PES can't.But let's be honest,"small" teams aren't that important,but still it would be nice to have them.Squads and Kits are fine.
A few other notable things :
-The referee is someone you'll often find yourself hating.
-A very small glitch can happen once in a long while.
- Sometimes the AI is just stupid (Guess it happens in most games though).
So,overall,I'll give this game a nice 8/10. If you want a football game you can spend a lot of time into,I recommend you get this one.It's gameplay is better than ever before and there's quite a few things you can do.